Fox 2018-2019 Schedule: Football and New Shows Populate Primetime Lineup

Fox officially announced its 2018-2019 fall schedule and Gotham has received a fifth and final season to air in midseason. Although it will be an abbreviated season, at least Gotham fans get a chance to say farewell to the show unlike Lucifer, The Mick, or Last Man on Earth viewers. Brooklyn Nine Nine was also cancelled by Fox, but fortunately NBC snatched it up and will add it to its primetime schedule. And Lethal Weapon will return, but with Seann William Scott in place of Clayne Crawford.

“This year, we launched four of the Top 10 new shows on broadcast, which led to a very strong roster of young series returning for their sophomore seasons. That gives us tremendous momentum heading into the fall,” said Dana Walden and Gary Newman, Chairmen and CEOs, Fox Television Group. “With our increased investment in football, we’re going to use the powerful platform of the NFL to launch our new comedies. We’ll then take some big swings with dramas at midseason, which is a proven strategy for FOX.”

Brooklyn Nine-Nine was cancelled for a variety of reasons, according to Dana Walden, including not having the exact right place to schedule it in the upcoming season. Lucifer and The Exorcist were cancelled simply due to a ratings-based decision. Gary Newman says they loved both shows and were proud to have them on Fox, but performance-wise they needed to make the change. As for Prison Break, a new possible season is in the early stages of development. They’re working on getting the next iteration – if there is one – exactly right. An official announcement of its status should be released in the next few months.

Fox’s fall lineup will include new comedies Rel and The Cool Kids as well as the revival of Last Man Standing with Tim Allen. Fox will also be the home of NFL’s Thursday Night Football.

Rel – Inspired by the life of Lil Rel Howery, Rel is a multi-camera comedy starring Howery as a loving husband and father living in Chicago, who finds out his wife is having an affair, and must rebuild his life as a single father, following his divorce. The comedy also stars Sinbad, Jess “Hilarious” Moore, and Jordan L. Jones.

The Cool Kids – From executive producer Charlie Day, The Cool Kids is a multi-camera comedy about a rag-tag group of friends living in a retirement community who are willing to break every rule in order to have fun – because, at their age, what do they really have to lose? The series stars four comedy veterans: Tony Award nominee David Alan Grier, Emmy Award nominee Martin Mull, Emmy Award winner Leslie Jordan, and Emmy Award winner Vicki Lawrence.

Last Man Standing – This fall, hit comedy Last Man Standing joins the FOX lineup. A fan-favorite for six seasons, the series stars Tim Allen as MIKE BAXTER, a married father of three girls, who tries to maintain his manliness, despite being surrounded by women. The series also stars Nancy Travis, Jonathan Adams, Amanda Fuller, Christoph Sanders and Jordan Masterson. Last Man Standing and The Cool Kids will anchor a brand-new Friday night comedy block.

Thursday Night Football – In its 25th season of NFL coverage, the new Thursday Night Football Pregame Show will be FOX Sports’ first New York City-based live NFL studio show, complementing FOX NFL Sunday, the No. 1 NFL pregame show for the last 24 seasons and the network’s signature program, of which Terry Bradshaw and Howie Long have been an integral part since its inception in 1994. The new Thursday Night Football Pregame Show will be produced by Executive Vice President of Production, Bill Richards, who also oversees FOX NFL Kickoff and FOX NFL Sunday.

The Passage – Based on author Justin Cronin’s best-selling trilogy of the same name, The Passage is an epic, character-driven thriller written by Liz Heldens. Executive-produced by Heldens, Emmy Award winner and Academy Award and Golden Globe nominee Ridley Scott and writer/director Matt Reeves, The Passage focuses on Project Noah, a secret medical facility where scientists are experimenting with a dangerous virus that could lead to the cure for all disease, but also carries the potential to wipe out the human race. When a young girl (Saniyya Sidney) is chosen to be a test subject, a federal agent (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) is tasked with bringing her in, but ultimately, becomes her surrogate father, determined to protect her at any cost – even as Project Noah’s work threatens to unleash an unimaginable apocalypse.

Proven Innocent – Emmy and Golden Globe Award winner and Empire co-creator Danny Strong partners with David Elliot to tell the emotional story of one woman’s fight for the innocence of others, as well as her own. Proven Innocent follows an underdog criminal defense firm led by a fierce and uncompromising lawyer, who was wrongfully convicted in a sensational murder case that made her an infamous media obsession, a household name and a national cause célèbre. The drama stars Rachelle Lefevre, Vincent Kartheiser, Russell Hornsby, Brian d’Arcy James, and Tony Award winner Nikki M. James.

Gotham – Also at midseason, Gotham will air its fifth and final season, wrapping up this beloved series in a farewell event that will focus on Bruce Wayne’s (David Mazouz) transformation into the caped crusader. Gotham is an origin story of the great DC Comics Super-Villains and vigilantes, revealing an entirely new chapter that has never been told. From executive producer/writer Bruno Heller and executive producers Danny Cannon and John Stephens, GOTHAM follows the rise of Det. James Gordon (Ben McKenzie) through a dangerously corrupt city teetering between good and evil, and chronicles the birth of one of the most popular super heroes of our time. The series also stars Donal Logue, Morena Baccarin, Sean Pertwee, Robin Lord Taylor, Erin Richards, Camren Bicondova, Cory Michael Smith, Jessica Lucas, Chris Chalk, Drew Powell, Alexander Siddig and Crystal Reed.

Rent – The live musical production of the groundbreaking, Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Rent comes to FOX on Sunday, Jan. 27, 2019 (7:00-10:00 PM ET live/PT tape-delayed). A re-imagining of Puccini’s “La Bohème,” and set in New York City’s gritty East Village, Rent tells the unforgettable story of seven artists struggling to follow their dreams during a time of great social and political turmoil. Winner of four Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize, writer/composer Jonathan Larson’s tour de force continues to offer an inspiring message of hope and friendship. Acclaimed film, television and theater producer Marc Platt, along with the estate of writer/composer Jonathan Larson, will executive-produce the live musical event.

Cosmos – Airing as a global event on FOX and National Geographic in 180 countries and 43 languages, the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning Cosmos will return for its third season in Spring 2019. It will once again be executive-produced, written and directed by Ann Druyan; executive-produced by Seth MacFarlane, Brannon Braga and Jason Clark; and hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson, the famed pop-culture icon and astrophysicist. Continuing the legacy of its predecessors, Cosmos: Possible Worlds will translate the revelations of science into a lavishly transporting experience, taking audiences on a series of spiritual voyages of exploration. The new season will reveal previously uncharted realms, including lost worlds and worlds to come, and those that we may one day inhabit in a thrilling future we can still have.